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Transit benefits: new study, new campaign

The idea that transit systems, by moving commuters around en masse, reduce fuel consumption and reduce pollution may not surprise anyone. More surprising might be how much.

The Washington Public Interest Research Group, a decidedly pro-transit consumer organization, has completed its first nationwide look at transit’s environmental benefits, using 2006 information in federal data bases. And it’s using its conclusions to help campaign for expanding light rail service beyond Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport.

The verdict for the three-county area of Puget Sound: 24 million gallons of oil saved, gasoline cost reductions totaling $63 million and more than 154,000 metric tons of carbon-monoxide pollution eliminated because transit kept commuters from traveling to work in cars in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

WashPIRG spokesman and organizer Blair Amundson said the organization based its report on information in the Federal Transit Administration national database and a 2007 urban mobility report published by the Texas Transportation Institute. The group also used an EPA report to calculate vehicle fuel consumption. Its report is based on public transportation systems; private bus services weren’t included.

A breakdown from the report: King County Metro transit saved an estimated 12.5 million gallons of oil and $32.7 million in gasoline costs and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 87,907 metric tons, because transit buses eliminated other vehicle trips.

Sound Transit, according to the report, saved more than 6.8 million gallons of oil and $17.9 million in gasoline costs and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions by 49,622 tons.

Community Transit in Snohomish County saved more than 1.9 million gallons of oil and $5 million in gasoline costs and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions 12,697 tons.

Pierce Transit saved more than 2.7 million gallons of oil and $7.1 million in gasoline costs and cut CO2 emissions by 4,201 tons.
In amounts of oil, cost and pollution savings created, the report ranks Puget Sound’s transit systems 14th among 25 major metropolitan areas, topped by the New York-New Jersey area and with Las Vegas last.

Amundson said 2006 figures were the last available from the federal government databases. Amunson announced the study Thursday at Sound Transit headquarters in Seattle, a few steps away from where Sound Transit’s board held another discussion that brought them closer to deciding the shape of another transit-expansion ballot measure.

The board didn’t make any decisions. Sound Transit spokesman Geoff Patrick said the agency wasn’t supporting WashPIRG’s study. The agency its Grand Hall reception area available for WashPIRG’s press conference.

“It’s a public area,” Patrick said. Amundson said his group, like others, will press Sound Transit to expand its light rail system further than the 15.7-mile segment it is building from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport and will reserve judgment until details of another package become known.

Amundson conceded that Thursday’s press conference was a “campaign event in a couple of different ways” – to try to get another ballot measure proposing light-rail expansion and to help push the federal government to keep investing in transit.

And WashPIRG is wading back into transportation issues. Amundson said WashPIRG does not favor replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with another highway, which would “just continue to perpetuate the road-based and car-based system.”

But he said the group supports replacing the Evergreen Point Bridge with a six-lane span if two lanes are reserved for carpools and transit and the structure is built to eventually accept high-capacity transit – “preferably light rail.”

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